Archive for June, 2010
Bank of America is scaling back its global ambitions with the recent sale of stakes in international banks.
It’s a sharp reversal from a strategy former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis touted on a visit to San Francisco and mentioned frequently to the investment community.
The nation's largest bank saw the investments as a way to participate in growing economies around the world while leveraging its skills as a retail-banking powerhouse.
Expect Bank of America Corp. to sell more of its assets to meet a government order to raise capital. And soon.
With less than two weeks remaining, BofA still hasn’t met a government deadline to raise $3 billion in equity by selling pieces of the $2.3 trillion company.
The Charlotte-based bank is required to raise the additional equity as part of its repayment of a $45 billion taxpayer bailout.
National housing prices increased 2.6% in April 2010 compared to April 2009 in the CoreLogic (CLGX: 14.56 +0.62%) monthly home price index (HPI).
It's the second month in a row that prices have increased from the same month one year ago. The April increase comes after a 2.3% year-over-year increase in March. The HPI was upwardly revised from an original projection of a 1.7% increase for March.
Month-over-month, the national average HPI increased 0.8% in April compared to March, up from the 0.1% increase from February to March. The chart below shows year-over-year prices changes by state:
Since the HPI peaked in April 2006 to the current HPI level, prices are down 29.5%. In April 2009, all of the 100 core based statistical areas (CBSAs) CoreLogic tracks experienced a year-over-year decrease. Since then, the number of CBSAs with positive year-over-year gains has increased every month. In April 2010, 60 of 100 markets experienced increases.
“The monthly increase in the HPI shows the lingering effects of the homebuyer tax credit,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic. “We expect that we will see home prices remain strong through early summer, but in the second half of the year we expect price growth to soften and possibly decline moderately.”
Hawaii lead all states in year-over-year price appreciation at 13.4%, followed by Massachusetts (7.4%), California (7.3%), Virginia (6.5%) and New Hampshire (5.2%).
Idaho leads all states in year-over-year price decline in April, with the HPI down 7.2%, followed by Illinois (5.8%), Nevada (4.6%), Maryland (4.3%) and Washington (3.7%).
When distressed sales are removed from the equation, CoreLogic said prices increased 2.2% year-over-year in April, better than the 1% increase in the non-distressed HPI during March.
From peak to current, excluding distressed properties, the change in the HPI is -21.1%.
Excluding distressed sales, Hawaii again leads all states in year-over-year price increases at 10.6%, followed by California (8.4%), North Dakota (6%), New York (3.7%), and Virginia (3.6%).
The states with the worst HPI levels excluding distressed sales were Nevada (5.6%) Michigan (4.1%), Arizona (3.4%), Florida (3.4%) and Washington (3.1%).
Write to Austin Kilgore.
The author held no relevant investments.
A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk…with more coverage to come on bigger issues:
During a conference call later this morning, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Treasury Department will announce the creation of a new monthly national housing scorecard. The Obama administration initiative will combine housing market indicators along with the progress of the administration's homeowner assistance programs, including efforts by the Federal Housing Administration and the Making Home Affordable programs to help homeowners.
In addition to HUD secretary Shaun Donovan, HUD assistant secretary Raphael Bostic, Treasury assistant secretary Herb Allison, HUD senior advisor for mortgage finance Bill Apgar and Treasury home preservation office chief Phyllis Caldwell are expected to participate in the announcement.
The White House called on Republicans to stop efforts to block Congressional action on a series of legislation and political appointments — including a bill that would extend the closing deadline for the homebuyer tax credit.
Last week, senators passed an amendment to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 that would extend the June 30 deadline to close on a house sale to Sept. 30 for first-time and existing homebuyers to be eligible for the homebuyer tax credit. The legislation also includes spending on extended unemployment benefits and spending on educational initiatives.
"Unfortunately, the Republican leadership in the Senate won’t even allow this legislation to come up for a vote," President Obama said in his weekly address (watch here). "And if this obstruction continues, unemployed Americans will see their benefits stop. Teachers and firefighters will lose their jobs. Families will pay more for their first home."
Obama was also critical of the standstill on 136 political appointees that have not been confirmed by the Senate and legislation that would increase the liability on corporations responsible for natural disasters.
"I know the political season is upon us in Washington. But gridlock as a political strategy is destructive to the country," Obama said. "Whether we are Democrats or Republicans, we’ve got an obligation that goes beyond caring about the next election. We have an obligation to care for the next generation."
New commercial mortgage-backed security (CMBS) issuance was one of the most popular topics discussed during last week's Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Finance Council's June convention, according to analysis published by Barclays Capital (BarCap).
A number of speakers agreed that the new origination and securitization volume year-to-date is lighter than what was initially expected, BarCap said, adding on the origination side, loan supply remains low, as borrowers’ demand for conduit-style loans is not as high as initially expected and as the availability of properties not encumbered by debt and suitable for conduit securitization remains somewhat limited.
Another concern at the conference was the future of warehousing, as the accumulation of loans for further securitization is still challenging for the conduit platforms, the report continued. CMBS continues to face competition from insurance companies that are quoting loans at prices that the conduit platforms cannot afford. As a product, CMBS needs improved brand recognition to remain competitive, the report added.
On the residential side of the market, it appears residential rental yields are returning to "normal" levels, according to weekly commentary published by JPMorgan (JPM: 37.21 -0.75%).
Rental yields bottomed in 2007, but are now back to pre-housing bubble levels, JP Morgan analysts wrote. The impact of this is that as foreclosures force more homeowners to become renters — JPMorgan puts that number at more than 2m during the next three years — the market needs real estate investors.
The chart below tracks rental yields nationally and in the West:
While JPMorgan expects the market's low mortgage rates should remain that way for the foreseeable future, the availability of credit is low, and that's hurting investors ability to get into the residential rental market. The rental market also needs job growth to bring more renters into the market.
For the second week in a row, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) reported only one bank failure over the weekend. The Nevada Financial Institutions Division closed Reno-based Nevada Security Bank. As receiver, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Roseburg, Oreg.-based Umpqua Bank, which did not pay a premium to assume all of failed bank's $$479.8m in total deposits.
The five Nevada Security Bank branches reopened as branches of Umpqua Bank. Umpqua Bank will purchase "essentially all" of the failed bank's $480.3m in assets. The estimated cost the FDIC Deposit Insurance Fund is $80.9m. It is the 82nd bank failure of 2010, compared to 40 by the third week of June 2009.
Write to Austin Kilgore.
The author held no relevant investments.
